Face piece expander unit



1966 D- w. JOHNSON I FACE PIECE EXPANDER UNIT Filed June 29, 3,964

Donald Manufacturing Company, line, New Philadelphia, Ohio,

"United States Patent Otfiee Patented f more Place nxrannnn UNl'lJohnson, Wooster, Ohio, asslgnor to Snyder a corporation of Ohio FiledJune 29, 1964,,Ser. No. 378,497 6 Claims. (Cl. 2-3.)

The present invention relates to a novel face piece or hood structurefor protecting the user while enabling the wearer to see through thestructure.

There are numerous situations in hospitals, industrial plants and thelike when it isdesirable to protect a person from the surroundingenvironment or even protect the surrounding environment from theperson.Various articles of protective clothing or coverings have been suggestedfor use in such situations and in many instances such articles have beenrelatively awkward to use or complicated or expensive. I

It is an important object of the present invention to provide a novelarticle which may be used as a protective hood or face piece and whichis of relatively simple, economical and lightweight construction.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a novelprotective hood or face piece structure adapted to be formed fromrelatively thin lightweight and substantially transparent plastic sheetmaterial and having means for maintaining a portion of the sheetmaterial in a generally smooth condition for facilitating viewingtherethrough.

A still further specific object of the present invention is to provide anovel face piece or hood structure of the above-described type havingsimple, lightweight and effective means for maintaining theaforementioned portion of the sheet in a stretched or taut condition forfaciltating viewing thercthrough.

Still another object'of the present invention is to provide a novelexpander unit which may be readily connected with 'a sheet of flexiblematerial for stretching a portion thereof and facilitating viewingtherethrough.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following description and the accompanying drawingswherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a protective hood structureincorporating features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an expander unit incorporatingfeatures of the present invention and adapted to be incorporated in thehood structure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged exploded perspective view showing the expanderunit of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary partial sectional view taken generally alongline 4-4 in FIG. 5;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 55 in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary enlarged perspective view showing an end portionof a spacer element included in the expander unit;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged partial sectional view taken generally along line7-7 in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken generally alongline 8-8 in FIG. 1.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings wherein like parts aredesignated by the same numerals throughout the various figures, a hoodstructure 10 incorporating features of the present invention is shownin' FIG. 1. In the embodiment shown, the hood structure comprises asheet material member .12 and an expander unit 14 constructed andapplied to the sheet material in the manner described fully hereinbelow.

The sheet material member 12 is preferably made from a thin flexibletranspatcnt sheet of any suitable material such as vinyl plastic. inorder to reduce costs and also to minimize weight. and increaseflexibility, the sheet material used for the member 12is preferablysufficiently thin so that the sheet material member is normally notself-supporting. In other words in the absence of the expanderunit 14,the sheet material member 12 would not maintain a well defined shape andwould 'be wrinkled and irregular so as to obscure the vision of a personwearing the hood. Furthermore, the sheet material member i2 may beformed from a single normally flat sheet of material adapted to bedraped over the head of a wearer or, if desired, i may be provided witha preformed generally cylindrical portion 16 having a closed upper end18 and a cape portion 20 secured to and depending from .a lower marginof the cylindrical portion.

The expander unit 14 is adapted to be secured to spaced apart areas ofthe sheet material member 12 for stretching a portion 22 of the sheetmaterial member between such areas and thereby provide the hoodstructure with a generally taut, wrinkle-free face piece through which awearer may easily see. More specifically the expander unit comprisesfirst and second bow members 24 and 26 of generally U-shapedconfiguration. The bow member 24 has opposite leg portions 28 and 30joined by a curved bight portion 32 and the bow member 26 is similarlyconstructed with opposite leg portions 34 and 36 joined by a bightportion 38.

The bow members 24 and 26 are adapted to be secured to the sheetmaterial member 12 at opposite sides of the face portion 22 andpreferably adjacent upper and lower margins of the portion 22. In theembodiment shown, pieces 40 and 42 of pressure-sensitive tape are usedfor releasably securing the bow members 24 and 26 to the sheet materialmember. As shown best in FIGS. 1 and 8, the tape elements 40 and 42 arewider than the bow members 24 and 26 so that the tape elements areadapted to traverse the bow members and to be adhesively secured to theplastic sheet along opposite edges of the bow members. Furthermore, thetape elements 40 and 42 have a length similar to the width of the facepanel 22. During attachment of the bow members to the plastic sheet, thesheet is preferably manually stretched in the direction of the length ofthe bow members so that when the tape elements are applied, the plasticsheet will be maintained in the taut or slightly stretched condition.Alternatively, the elements 40 and 42 may be made from relatively rigid,sel-f-supporting pre-formed channels permanently bonded to the facepanel 22 and adapted to permit the bow members to he slipped endwisethercinto. The bows and tape elements or the channel members maintainthe sheet taut in a direction extending in a plane generally paralleltothe bow members or in other words in a generally horizontal plane andthe expander unit is provided with additional means described below forvertically spreading or expanding the bow members for maintaining theface piece 22 in a stretched condition in a generally verticaldirection.

It is noted that the expander unit is shown inside of the hood portion16, but it may be secured to the outer surface in many instances. Whilethe tape elements provide convenient and economical means for readilydetachably securing the bow members to the sheet material, it is to beunderstood that the bow elements can be directly adhcsively secured tothe sheet material or that other fastening means may be used forconnecting the sheet material to the bow elements.

The expander unit 14 is provided with upstanding spacer members 44 and46 respectively extending between the leg portions 28-34 and 3036 of thebow members. The

ness of the material from which the bow members 24 and 26 aremade andpreferably the web element 52 has opposite ends 54 and 56 whichterminate short of opposite ends 58 and 60 of the side elements. Whenthe spacer member 34 is assembled with the bow members, the end portionsof the side elements 48 and t embrace thelegs 28 and 340i the bowmembers and the ends 54 and 56 of the web element 52 project into slotsor notches 62 and 64 formed in the bow leg portions 28 and Mrespectively. It is to be noted that these notches are wider than thethickness of the web element 52 so that there is a loose or pivotalconnection between the support member 44 and the bow members forenabling the bow members to pivot relative to each other in the mannerdescribed below. The spacer member 46 is identical to the member 44 andincludes opposite side elements 66 and 68 joined by a web elementadapted to project into notches 70 and 72 formed in the bow member legportions 30 and 36 and corresponding tothe above-described notches 62and 64.

The notches 62, 64, 70 and 72 and thus the pivotal connections betweenthe spaced members 4145 and 46 and the bow members are adjacent to butspaced substantially from the terminal free ends of the bow member legportions so that the leg portions respectively have '74, 76, 78 and 80projecting rearwardly from the pivotal connections with the spacermember. Tension springs 82 and 84 are connected between the leg sections74-76 and 78-80. These springs have a normal'length less than the facingedges and the leg sections 74 and 76 at locations between the terminalends of the leg sections and the spacer member 44. The spring 84 isformed with similar hooked portions 94 and 96 adapted to engage innotches 98 and 100 corresponding to the notches 9% and 92 and formed inthe leg sections 78 and 80.

While a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been shown anddescribed herein,it is obvious that many structural details may bechanged without departing from the spirit and scope of the appendedclaims.

The invention is claimed as follows:

1. A structure of the type. described comprising a flexible sheetmaterial member, first and second generally ,U-shaped means respectivelyincluding bight portions secured to space portions of saidsheet materialmember, said U'shaped means respectively having opposed leg portionsextending from said bight portions, first and 2. A structure, as definedin claim 1, which includes adhesive tape elements securing said bightportions to said sheet material member.

3. A structure, as defined in claim 1, wherein said leg portions of saidU-shaped means include sections projecting away from said bight portionsand beyond said spacer members, and said means pivotally biasing saidone U- shaped means comprises spring extending between said leg sectionsof said first and second U-shapcd means.

4. A structure, as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said spacermembers comprises opposite side elements having end portions embracingthe leg portions of the U- shaped means, and each of said spacer membersincludes an intermediate web portion extending between its sideelements, and said leg portions of said U-shaped means comprising notchmeans loosely receiving ends of said web elements of said spacer membersand providing pivotal connections between the U-shaped means and thespacer members.

5. In a structure of the type described, an expander unit comprisingfirst and second bow members respectively having b'ight portionsconnectable with a sheet material member and opposite leg portionsextending from said bight portion, first and second spacer membersrespectively extending between first leg portions of said first andsecond bow means and second leg portions of said first and second bowmeans, at least one of said how means having pivotal connections withsaid spacer members, said one of said bow means including leg sectionsextending away from its bight portion and beyond said pivotalconnections with said spacer members, and tension springs connected withsaid leg sections of said one bow member and with the other said howmember for pivotally biasing said one how member for urging the bightportion thereof away from the bight portion of the other said bowmembers.

6. An expander unit, as defined in claim 5, wherein both of said howmembers are pivotally connected to said spacer member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS JORDAN FRANKLIN,Primary Examiner.

FRANK I COHEN, Examiner.

J. R. BOLER, Assistant Examiner,

1. A STRUCTURE OF THE TYPE DESCRIBED COMPRISING A FLEXIBLE SHEETMATERIAL MEMBER, FIRST AND SECOND GENERALLY U-SHAPED MEANS RESPECTIVELYINCLUDING BIGHT PORTIONS SECURED TO SPACE PORTIONS OF SAID SHEETMATERIAL MEMBER, SAID U-SHAPED MEANS RESPECTIVELY HAVING OPPOSED LEGPORTIONS EXTENDING FROM SAID BIGHT PORTIONS, FIRST AND SECOND SPACERMEMBERS RESPECTIVELY EXTENDING BETWEEN FIRST LEG PORTIONS OF SAID FIRSTAND SECOND U-SHAPED MEANS AND SECOND LEG PORTIONS OF SAID FIRST ANDSECOND U-SHAPED MEANS, SAID LEG PORTIONS OF ONE OF SAID U-SHAPED MEANSBEING PIVOTALLY CONNECTED WITH SAID SPACER MEMBERS, AND MEANS CONNECTEDTO AND PIVOTALLY BIASING SAID ONE USHAPED MEANS FOR URGING THE BIGHTPORTION THEREOF AWAY FROM THE OTHER BIGHT PORTION FOR TENSIONING AN AREAOF SAID SHEET MATERIAL MEMBER BETWEEN SAID BIGHT PORTIONS.